Zenith

Dreadnought
7

• Show profile
• Show other posts

It is...

A pretty nice watch, with styling dating back to the original from 1969...but I have to agree with Art on this one, the 40th Anniversary was much more of a homage piece to the original El Primero chronograph of 1969.  The actual watch itself, though, I have a few thoughts on:
The case: With a much more contemporary design, the additional foudroyante complication is likely necessary for the larger case, but enthusiasts shouldn't fault the company for it. 
The movement: Sweet...a chronograph with a foudroyante movement.  So either the engineers from Zenith gave the engineers from Hublot a call, people shared ideas, or people took a great idea and ran with it.  But the big deal here is that people are now able, on a larger scale with greater ease, to see exactly how many 10ths of a second has passed while timing an event.  While I would have liked to see something of a Hublot King Power-type foudroyante on a Zenith sport watch, this does just nicely on a easy to read, easy on the eyes chronograph.
Strap: Elegent...nice...not my cup of tea.
Dial: The coloring, like the original El Primero of 1969, is a great look.  The updated font on the dial/subdials, plus the make-up of the hands (the seconds star at the opposite end is a nice touch), as well as the 1/10th marks on the inner bezel provide a really nice look.
Caseback: Reminds me of a Chronomaster.  Not a bad thing... A really nice touch is the oscillating weight/rotor...the design is much nicer than it was a couple years ago.
Overall:  I'm not a "dress watch" kinda guy.  When owning a dress watch, I'd have to worry about wearing it...and I don't own safe queens for the sole purpose of that I wear every watch I own.  If I wanted a piece to show off in a museum then I might as well open up my own gallery.  With watches, and especially when it comes to Zenith, I'd much rather wear it than worry about wearing it.  So I'm unsure if I'd buy this particular watch, even though I think it looks great.

Zenith has and always has been a forward-thinking manufacturer, as it grew from building mechanical automatic chronographs to quartz (when they were the rage) back to automatic chronographs...and upping the ante with complications ranging from flyback chronographs to multi-axial tourbillons.  This is a step in a positive direction, instead of simply diving (no pun intended) into an avant garde method of watchmaking, Zenith is bringing it back to it's functional roots before taking more "extreme" steps in it's watch-making process.